Minnesota Town Wiped Off Google Street View

North Oaks, Minn. can keep its privacy, due to privately owned streets that turned Google's Street View cars into trespassers.

Privacy advocates may have been powerless to prevent Google from cataloging pictures of their homes and lawns when Street View debuted last summer, but residents of one small Minnesota town have found a way to prevent it entirely: own the streets. Residents of North Oaks, Minn. have successfully removed their town from Street View because of its unique system of privately owned streets.

Unlike the vast majority of U.S. roads which are public property and therefore fair ground for Google to prowl and photograph, the 4,500 residents of North Oaks collectively own the streets, and have posted “No Trespassing” signs around the perimeter of their property. After discovering their private property up for perusal on Street View in January, North Oaks residents complained to Google and had their entire town wiped off the service, leaving a small hole in Street View coverage north of St. Paul, Minn.

“It’s not the hoity-toity folks trying to figure out how to keep the world away,” said Mayor Thomas Watson, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.  “They really didn’t have any authorization to go on private property.”

Google didn’t deny its error, but spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said the driver of the car capturing Street View imagery probably just didn’t notice the signs.